Friday, November 19, 2010

This morning we posted our concerns over a sport fishing site based in California that offers white sharks under the "types of sharks caught".

The apparent understanding is that these animals are on the menu for five fleet vessels operating from Oxnard to Marina del Ray at $1,800 a day.

Fortunately since the mid 90's white sharks off the California coast are protected by law.

Or are they?

Our post caught the attention of a shark conservationist who contacted the apparent owner of sharks.us only to receive the following threatening email, in which Captain Mike Schmidt tracked Jennifer XXX down (we redacted her business information) and seems to threaten her in person.

He also made a statement in a previous email where he threatens to "kill a shark" for every "tree hugger" email she or any of her friends sends him. He doubles down on that threat in this follow up email.

A quick visit to a sport fishing website sharks.us finds an outfit in Oxnard California that claims, for the lofty sum of just $1,895, to allow you to catch white sharks.

The only problem is the California Department of Fish and Game banned fishing for white sharks in 1994. The effort to get white shark fishing banned in the state of California took several years with many use groups including the sport fishing industry pushing for change.

So why are the fleet boats of Sharks.us, all five of them, patrolling the waters from Oxnard to Marina del Ray offering white sharks as part of their monster shark experience?Types of sharks caught:

Mako Sharks

Leopard Sharks

Oceanic White Tips

Thresher Sharks

Tope (Soupfin) Sharks

White Sharks

Blue Sharks

Nurse Sharks

Lemon Sharks

Hammerhead

Bigeye Thresher

Horn Sharks

About your Shark Adventure:

Your Adventure starts before you step on the dock. Sleepless nights and day dreaming of catching your monster shark, walking down the gang way with anticipation of pulling on a record breaker. The diesel engines firing up to announce to everyone we are starting out on an adventure of a lifetime. Is your heart racing now? Just wait till you see the fin set of a Mako in the chum slick, and then tell us if you can contain yourself. Have this filmed so you can try and share exactly how you felt with your family and friends. Remember, all you have to worry about is showing up on time and we provide everything else: profession crew, expertise, lunch, snacks, drinks, fishing license, tackle, rods and reels, bait, chum, fuel and oil.